Page 12 of Tumbleweed Temptation
“Oh, now, don't be so cynical. I’ve had a lovely time here. I mean, I retired here.” She passed over his mug and nudged a creamer in his direction.
He wanted to tell her she hadn’t given it enough time, and he hoped she had good savings for when she was ready to escape. She maybe hadn’t seen the dark side of the town, the grudge-holding side. Did she know about him?
“Who are we seeing today?” he asked, lifting the fragrant coffee to his lips as she made her own cup and poured a liberal amount of creamer in it.
“We have Vivian Lopez, Melissa Dunfry, Maria Talamantez, Yasmine Mendez, and Destiny Nazareth.”
Austin tried to put names with those faces, but failed. “Talamantez? Related to the sheriff?”
“Retired sheriff. But yes.”
“So who’s sheriff now?”
“Someone else they recruited from out of town, from the Houston area, I think. She came here after Harvey.”
“Seriously, with all the people living here who need jobs, why do we keep pulling people from out of town?”
“We want the most qualified, and we don't always have the patience to wait for one of our own to get their degree,” she said gently. “So have you had a chance to look over the resumes?”
“I did, and I don't see anyone with any medical experience. I was kind of hoping to have someone like that.”
“I understand. We have two home health nurses in town, Lacey and Maggie, but neither of them applied. I don't know of they’d prefer it for the salary we offer. I don't know what they’re getting paid now.”
He would like to work with Lacey. They had been friends in that awful time, and she’d tried to keep it up when he moved to Waco, but he’d wanted to shut out all memories of Broken Wheel when he’d left here.
“I might reach out to her, if someone doesn’t strike a chord with me today. Do you think she’d mind?”
“You know she’s with Beck, right?”
“I did know.” Poppy had made a point of telling him.
“How’s your coffee? Ready for another one?”
By the time lunch rolled around, his stomach was sloshing with flavored coffee and his mind was buzzing, both with caffeine and the decision he had to make.
“Let’s go over to the diner to get some real food,” he suggested to Marianne, and wondered at the expression of reluctance he saw flit across her face. Besides, he needed some air to help clear the coffee haze from his brain.
They walked down the steps and out into the sunshine, and for a moment, the heat took his breath. Marianne smiled at him.
“You’ll remember,” she said, and turned to lead the way to the diner.
Her shoulders stiffened a little when she walked through the glass door and looked around, finding a spot at the farthest from the counter.
Huh.
“I thought we could talk over what we saw so far today, and maybe narrow the field a bit,” she said. “What did you think of Vivian?”
Vivian. Mid- to-late thirties. Very quiet. Very very quiet.
“I think she would be miles out of her comfort zone in this job, don't you?”
“Honestly, I think it would be good for her, but I have a feeling it would be like diving into the deep end for her. I imagine you’re going to be very busy very quickly, and she might be overwhelmed.”
“Well, that makes two of us.”
“You’ll do fine, but I think you need someone with a little more initiative. What about Destiny?”
The hardware store owner’s daughter had been more outgoing, but to be honest, Austin hadn’t felt all that comfortable around her, the way she looked at him, the smile that curved her lips, like she had a secret she was dying to share with him.
